@A DiabetesTeam Member Both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics can have either hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia. Hyper is very high blood sugar, and hypo is very low blood sugar. The same symptoms can be seen in both hyper and hypo, and each person can have different symptoms, that is why it is necessary to use a glucose meter to see exactly where the blood sugar is. The treatments are also the same, if hyper an insulin injection will lower blood sugars, though many Type 2 do not use insulin and so cannot use this recourse, and just have to wait it out, and adjust their carbohydrate intake, or if very high go to the emergecy department of the local hospital where they will give you an insulin drip to correct it. For hypos, the first is to drink a sugary drink (half a can of regular pop), or even sugar dissolved in water, or orange juice. The reason that liquid is used, is that it is quicker to act within the body. Then it should be followed by some protein to prolong the effect of the rise due to the intake of the sugar. Care must be taken not to take TOO much sugar to treat a low, otherwise we will end up with the roller-coaster effect of a swing to super high numbers, and start the battle all over again. What a drain on the body. The lows you are getting stince taking injections Lindsay, are due to the insulin you inject not matching the food you eat. The timing is important as to when the dose is taken, and the amount taken should be adjusted to the amount of carbs and protein in your meal. If you take too much you will go low! If you take the insulin too soon before your meal, you may also go low. There are some very good books around discussing the use of insulin and how it works. One is called "Using Insulin" by John Walsh, and the other is "Think Like a Pancreas" by Gary Scheider. Both are available in e-book format too. Very informative.

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A hypo is blood sugar reading that is lower than normal range 5 to 7 or 90-139 (US.) It can cause some dizziness or a feeling of fainting, also sometimes tingling in the tongue and lips and shakiness in trying to do something like open a package or check your BG. The only way to know if you are really low, is to check your blood sugar on your meter. That will tell you if you are below 4, then you can take a small snack to correct it. Make it small though just 15 grams of carbohydrates, for instance half a glass of milk, or 2 teaspoons of sugar, or half a glass of orange juice or pop. If it is a long time before your next meal, then, after checking your blood glucose again to see where it is (after 15 minutes), if it is normal between 5 and 7 then have a regular snack of 15 grams, half an apple OR couple of slices of cheese with 3 crackers, OR a handful of nuts. Then you should be fine until the next meal. If the next meal is within half an hour, don't do any more correcting.

However, if your numbers are running much higher than this, you can get what is called a "false low". Which means that your blood sugar has dropped fast but it not in the really low range of under 4. This is because if your numbers are always high, when you go down a bit, then you will feel the LOW feelings because of the drop. Do not eat a lot of things to correct t his, gradually your body will get used to the lower numbers and it will feel normal again. Take a drink of water and maybe have a stick of celery or a couple of almonds, just to feel as though you are eating something.

Don't be too scared, because as a Type 2, lows are generally not dangerous. The danger is really for those people with type 1, because their bodies cannot compensate with stored glucose from their livers. In the case of us with Type 2, a low can feel really uncomfortable, but rarely is it deadly serious. Of course the best way to avoid being scared is to check your blood glucose often, so you can see exactly where it is at whatever time of time you check. It is not a stable number that you just check in the morning when you get up, it is changing all day throughout the day. Anything you eat, and any exercise affects the levels of your blood sugar, so the more you know about what levels you are, the more you can do to help yourself.

Sometime a low mood indicates a hypo. I feel down, I wonder if...Sometimes I can be working away or in a meeting and it is when I stand up or move away that I feel dizzy or sluggish. Check your meter, don't assume it is a hypo.
Diabetes and BSL readings - I don't think they ever make sense! Every day is different.

I was HYPOglycemic in my 20's & 30's. If I ate to many sweets, my insulin would over-compensate and shut my sugar levels too low. I had to eat 3 meals and 3 snacks/day, kinda like now. When it dropped, I's get shakes, sweaty, heart racing, and an undeniable urge to eat everything in site. My brain telling me to get it back up. Afterwards, I'd have a headache, be totally exhausted.

@A DiabetesTeam Member,sorry but without a meter to test your blood you don't know what is happening. DIABETES can have the same readings for low or high. Thats why this disease in considered so insidious.

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